By Enyinna Omoke,Abakaliki
A Non-Governmental Organisation, popularly known as Women Aid Collective, as part of its “Advance Women’s Political Participation in Nigeria” project, sponsored by the UN Women with support from the government of Canada,has advocated for Reserved Seat for women in politics in order to them sense of belongings and amplify their voice.
The meeting which took place at Santiago Hotel, Abakaliki during a one-day State level Advocacy Town Hall meeting.
The event was attended by selected stakeholders and critical players in women advancement focused on building consensus and consolidating memorandum to be presented to the Constitutional Review Committee during the upcoming zonal public hearings.
In her address during the event, the Head of Programmes, WACOL, Nkechi Igwe, who represented the Executive Director of the Organisation, Professor Joy Ngozi Ezeilo (SAN), decried the low level of women representation in elective positions in Nigeria, describing it as unacceptable.
Igwe said: “Looking at the percentage of women both in the National and State Assemblies, it is quite infinitesimal compared to the efforts women put into politics.
“We observed that when it comes to voting and those that register to vote during elections, it is always more women, but when it comes to the number coming out for elective positions, we have a limited number of women representing us there.
“And we know that there’s no society that can survive without the work of women.
“So, what we are asking for is a specially reserved constituency seat exclusively to be contested by women.
“Having drawn lessons from countries that have adopted this reform through constitutional review and how it positively impacted their governance system, we find the opportunity of the review of the Nigerian constitution, as amended, to bring out this issue.”
Igwe explained that her organisation, apart from taking the campaign to the grassroots, has developed a strategy of engaging volunteers who would take the campaign to churches, markets and other such public places to explain to the people the essence of the Reserved Seat Bill and win their support.
She added: “The UN Women is supporting almost the 36 states of the federation for this advocacy to go on simultaneously because we want a lot of people to be aware of this issue of Reserved seat, so that when the zonal hearing comes up, a lot of people must have been aware and throw their support behind the bill.
“We know that voting for the reserved seat bill is a win for all Nigerians
The Reserved Seat bill in Nigeria, also known as the Specific Seats Bill, aims to increase women’s representation in the National and State Assemblies by creating additional seats that are contested and filled only by women.